Myths about the past in media environment: theoretical grounds and Russian political practice

Abstract

This article is examines the issues of constructive use of the myths about the past in media environment. The goal lies in the attempt to align several most significant theoretical models of interpretation of the social myth in order to comprehend constructive use of myths about the past in modern Russian politics of memory. This required referring to the peculiarities of the ontology of the past in media myth, as well as to the trends characteristic to modern foreign and Russian research of the politics of memory. The scientific novelty lies in the detailed analysis of the key categories that reveal the peculiarities of creating ontology of the past in modern media myth, as well as allow analyzing the constructive potential of myths about the past in media environment in the context of the Russian politics of memory (the function of cultural-historical orientation, motivating function, functions of conflict settlement). The author explores myths about the past, which in recent decades have become a crucial instrument for conducting a peculiar type of information warfare – the so-called “memorial” wars.